The disclosure relates generally to distributed antenna systems (DASs) and more particularly to monitoring non-supported wireless spectrum, which may be used in connection with coverage areas of DASs.
DASs can be used for providing, extending and enhancing wireless communications and other services within a building or other installation. One approach to deploying a DAS involves the use of radio frequency (RF) antenna coverage areas, also referred to as “antenna coverage areas.” The antenna coverage areas are provided by remote units in the DAS. Remote units can provide antenna coverage areas having radii in the range from a few meters up to twenty (20) meters. If the antenna coverage areas provided each cover a small area, there are typically only a few users (clients) per antenna coverage area. This minimizes the amount of RF bandwidth shared among the wireless system users. It may be desirable to provide antenna coverage areas in a building or other facility to provide indoor DAS access to clients within the facility. An optical fiber-based DAS can be used to distribute RF communications signals via Radio-over-Fiber (RoF) distribution.
Remote units in a DAS can be configured to distribute RF communications signals in multiple radio bands (i.e., frequencies or ranges of frequencies), as opposed to a single radio band. Distributing RF communications signals in multiple radio bands in an antenna coverage area increases flexibility of the DAS. In this scenario, client devices configured to communicate in different radio bands are supported in a given antenna coverage area provided by the remote unit.
The wireless spectrum within the antenna coverage areas often contain wireless signals from other sources and ambient electromagnetic (EM) signals, and in radio bands not supported by the DAS. These EM signals sometimes include supported frequencies used by DAS clients, as well as non-supported wireless frequencies. It may be desirable to detect and monitor non-supported environmental frequencies in the remote locations associated with the DAS remote units. In addition, some add-on equipment, such as a small-cell module physically located away from the remote unit, receives environmental frequency information as part of its initialization and configuration process, for example, to avoid interference with downlink or other channels of the small cell from environmental and other sources. Thus, it may also be desirable to detect and monitor non-supported wireless frequencies when adding or configuring additional equipment connected to the DAS.
No admission is made that any reference cited herein constitutes prior art. Applicant expressly reserves the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinency of any cited documents.